Bomb kills Croatian journalists

Two journalists from the Croatian paper Nacional - its owner and editor, Ivo Pukanic, and a colleague - died yesterday when a car bomb exploded in central Zagreb. The paper has often exposed corruption and human rights abuses. Earlier this year Pukanic reported an assassination attempt against him.

A visibly shaken prime minister Ivo Sanader told a press conference: "I shall not allow Croatia to become Beirut. This is no longer merely a fight against organised crime. This is something all of us in Croatia will rise up against." Sanader has just announced a set of tough "anti-mafia" laws as part of a bid to tackle organised crime following a string of unsolved beatings and murders in Zagreb.